scandalous grace, radical discipleship, cross-centered theology, Christian spirituality, the mission of the church in this world and whatever else on the same wave length running around the brain of a hopeful Protestant.

Our Whys

Gerhard E. Frost, in his splendid little book,” The Color of the Night: Reflections on Suffering and the Book of Job”, writes on page 28…

We must raise our whys. And we will, whether we wish to or not. The mind can no more contain its whys than the body can hold its breath. But there are many ways of asking why. It can be whined or cursed or snarled or pouted. But it can also be prayed.

A why can be a child’s empty cup, held up to the love and wisdom of our gracious God. Our Lord doesn’t fill it to the brim, but he satisfies each person’s need. He is too kind to drown us all in the knowledge we crave. He doesn’t give more than we can hold; sometimes we must wait to be made larger cups. Our present questions may be the wrong ones. Then he helps us outgrow them and prompts us to ask better ones.

God knows that the road we must travel would overcome us if we could, in a single moment, see around every bend. He gives us a candle rather than a floodlight—and he promises to be there. He asks us to remember is one form of mercy. His aim is not to keep things from us, but to keep things—the best things—for us!